We round off my amazing movie binging experience with a little film that I was not expecting to see. Not only was it a toss up on which movie I would round off my night with, but also the last thing I was expecting from the month of February is an amazing spy movie that has so many loving nods and throwbacks to the source material that I am honestly shocked it was not released in May or June. Kingsmen: The Secret Service was a surprisingly wonderful movie that needs to be watched by anyone who is a fan of espionage films or anyone who just needs a good movie going experience.

The Kingsmen are a secret organization apart from any major world power’s influence. Their job is simple, to maintain the stability of the world while looking dapper as fuck and enjoying the finer things in life. The villain of this particular movie is eccentric environmentalist Richmond Valentine (Samuel L Jackson) who is naturally planning some evil plans for changing the world to best suit his interests.

After kidnapping a professor played by Mark Hamill of all people, one of the Kingsmen code named Lancelot is killed by Valentine’s kick ass sidekick Gazelle (Sofia Boutella). With the death of Lancelot, the Kingsmen must find a new member to fill the spot. Thus Gallahad/Harry Hart (Colin Firth) seeks out the son of a former now deceased Kingsmen named Eggsy (Taron Egerton). He is a degenerate but with something to prove to the world. He is recruited into the organization and attempts to make his way through the rigorous training to become the newest member of the spy network.

Pros

Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson

While Taron Egerton and Sophia Cooksman are excellent leads in this movie, Samuel L Jackson and Colin Firth take it upon themselves to take Kingsmen from good to absolutely amazing. Colin Firth has that dry sense of humor that can only come from the most dapper of British gentlemen and Samuel L Jackson of course owns every second he is on screen with his larger than life persona and that goofy lisp he puts on in order to portray his character. There back and forth when the two are on screen together is the best moments in the film as the characters just seem to be polar opposites and Firth and Jackson use that very well.

Add in scenes where Jackson is terrified of murder and blood to make him a unique espionage villain as well as Colin Firth an award winning actor and appeared in such movies as The King’s Speech and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy delivering amazing one liners and slaughtering an entire church congregation makes for amazing moments in this film.

A Throwback to Classic Espionage Movies

Everything about this film is a love letter to espionage movies. Not since Django Unchained have I seen a movie that just loves the source material so much and gives it back to us in a way that future generations can watch and enjoy as much as past generations did. Kingsmen: The Secret Service is the 007 movies of the new age seeing as how the 007 franchise has been on a steady decline into crap these past couple of years.

The movie takes nods from classic spy movies from the dapper appearance of the secret service agents, the cool spy technology, the throwback to the 80’s with the mention of Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars program, and the over the top villains makes it a perfect combo of homages. The back and forth between Colin Firth and Samuel L Jackson adds a whole new level as it plays with various espionage tropes and does them very well. Excellent work all around for this amazing movie.

Cons

Odd Jokes

For a movie that comes across as somewhat realistic with very clever comedy, there are some jokes that feel for lack of a better term… Odd? I suppose odd is the correct word to use. They just feel out of place in the grand scheme of things and takes you out of the moment. Most of it comes from the third act when the Kingsmen are trying to save the world so minor spoilers in here, but come on if you have seen a spy movie you know what is coming up.

The major of the jokes being near the end when Eggsy is attempting to save the world and in order to do so sets off a chip in most of the dignitaries heads that makes their head’s explode. Instead of a shower of absolute gore, the heads are seen exploding in some sort of strange red, white, and blue America style confetti. I can understand you didn’t want gore on par with some heavy exploitation cinema… But to go that cartoonish completely took me out of the moment.

But the biggest what the fuck moment goes to the very end of the movie and by that I mean the last thirty seconds of the damn film. After the world has been saved Eggsy makes his way back to the Swedish Princess’s holding cell where moments before an offhanded joke was made that if Eggsy saved the world then they could ‘have sex in the asshole’. Well with the last scene of the movie, Eggsy slips back into the holding cell of the Swedish Princess and the final shots are a shot of the Swedish Princess’s ass and Merlin (Mark Strong) making a witty comment before closing the screen. This is just odd. It is a bizarre way to end the movie and just left me scratching my head saying… WHAT?! These are just a few examples of the out there jokes that are made in this movie.

Conclusion

I am worried for this movie. I am worried because this movie had to compete with the dull tripe that was Fifty Shades of Grey and it is my hope that enough people see Kingsmen: The Secret Service to truly do it the justice that it deserves. It is by far the best spy movie that has been released in years and is a throwback to all the things that former generations loved about spy movies.

The acting is amazing, Colin Firth and Samuel L Jackson are just magnificent, it has all the classic tropes you love, while playing with a couple of worn bits, and with the exception of a few odd jokes is nothing short of an enjoyable watch.

Final Score 4/5

Thank you for reading and as always if you enjoyed this review then please like and subscribe for more. Coming Saturday will be the return of The Nerdiest Talk Show on Earth so look forward to that.